Kane excited, but not sure how he’ll handle emotions during first game vs. Blackhawks

Patrick Kane, who has 11 goals and 15 assists with Detroit in 26 games this season, returns to face the Blackhawks for the first time tonight. Puck drop is at 5 p.m.
Associated Press

Patrick Kane is excited.

Excited to be back in the city he called home for 15 years. Excited about playing the Blackhawks for the first time as an opponent. And certainly excited for this afternoon’s Chris Chelios retirement ceremony.

As for how he’ll feel during warm-ups, the national anthem, the tribute video and during tonight’s game?

That’s a good question.

“I keep thinking I’m not gonna have too much emotion,” Kane said Sunday morning inside Chicago’s Ritz-Carlton Hotel, “but I guess you never know until those things go down. Just looking forward to see how everything unfolds.”

Kane said the reality of tonight hit him as Detroit’s plane descended upon Chicago.

“(Then) driving back downtown — seeing the skyline and everything like that — it hits home a little bit more.”

Kane addressed multiple topics during his nearly 17-minute presser. Here were the highlights:

∎ On coming to Chicago for the first time after being drafted No. 1 overall in 2007: “I was overwhelmed with the traffic and the city and everything and thinking: ‘I’m not gonna be able to do this coming from a little town like Buffalo.’

“I was just so wrong about that. It was such an amazing sports town, amazing city. Appreciate the fans and all the people … just the support they gave me from the day I came in, cheering me on. Not only through good times, but some tough times as well. They always seemed to be supporting me, which I definitely appreciated.”

∎ On Chelios’ jersey retirement ceremony, which the Red Wings plan to watch: “He’s been such a big supporter of USA hockey. Not only that, but he’s been a great friend to me. Even when I was going through the whole (free-agent) process this summer, just kind of checking in with him and talking to him about certain situations was very beneficial. So another friend is getting a great honor tonight. You add that on top of how much he’s meant to the Blackhawks and USA hockey and just the legend that he is and how long he played, it’s pretty cool.”

∎ On Connor Bedard’s willingness to work so hard at his game: “Some people think it’s God-given talent or things like that. … (Patrick Sharp) would always make fun of me and say I was silver-spoon fed because I was the first overall pick and got all these opportunities. I would always tell him, ‘Hey, you should’ve worked harder when you were a kid. … He always liked that one. Quieted down pretty quickly after that.

“That’s what I think of with Connor. He loves the game, loves practicing, loves working at his game. All that stuff pays off.

∎ On what it’s been like to be reunited with Alex DeBrincat: “It’s been great playing with him. He’s a great friend, too. Obviously we have some chemistry on the ice, but a lot of that comes from how close we are off the ice. … It’ll be fun to go out there and play with him today and just do our thing. Hopefully we can just go out there and play the game and settle in and focus on doing what we do out there.”

∎ On how much he wants to score tonight: “I don’t know. You want to score every game, right? That’s what I’m trying to get. I know it’s a different night and you’re back in Chicago and you want to play well, but I think you try to get your mind in the right spot where you just kind of treat it like you’re playing another game and you want to produce every night.”

Kane’s second to last question had to do with facing Chelios as a player. He recalled a game near the end of the 2007-08 season when the Hawks were facing the Red Wings at home.

Early in the first period, Kane felt “about seven cross checks” on his back — all delivered by Chelios — so he turned around to see if a penalty would be called.

Nope. So Kane decided to whack Chelios a couple of times.

Chelios kept hammering away and finally — on the “12th cross check” — the referees finally called a penalty.

The Hawks got a two-man advantage, scored and went on to win 6-2.

“(Afterwards) he was saying he wanted to give us a 5-on-3 so we could make the playoffs that year,” Kane said. “I don’t think he was too honest about that one. And then of course my mom is mad about it after saying ‘He’s the same age as me. What’s he doing?’”

“But after that we became pretty close.”